Stabbing suspect bothered by conscience yields

APPARENTLY, he wanted a new life for the new year.

The suspect in the recent stabbing of a Korean-Japanese man in Pasay City surrendered to the San Juan police on Friday, saying he was deeply bothered by his conscience and wanted to apologize to his victim before the year ended.

Senior Supt. Joselito Daniel, San Juan police chief, said that Froilan Escarmosa went to the police station at 4 p.m. on Friday to own up to the stabbing of his employer, Young Jun Lee, on Dec. 19.

Young was wounded after he was stabbed in the right chest and left arm. He was taken to the hospital by a taxi driver who spotted him crossing Diosdado Macapagal Avenue, bleeding from his wounds.

The police later said that based on their investigation, it was Escarmosa, Young’s driver, who stabbed him while they were inside the foreigner’s sport utility vehicle.

At that time, Young was waiting for his girlfriend, Raquel Mateo, who was supposed to repay a portion of the P4.4 million she borrowed from him two weeks ago.

According to Daniel, Escarmosa was turned over to the Pasay police around 1 a.m. yesterday.

Before the transfer, he told the police that he had been moving from one relative’s house to another to elude arrest.

“But since he really couldn’t sleep well, he decided to give himself up,” Daniel said.

Escarmosa told the police that he was driven by his need for money.

“He had many problems. He owed people money and his wife had just given birth to their third child,” Daniel said.

Based on Escarmosa’s account, he attacked Young to get the key to his condo unit in Parañaque, where he knew the foreigner was keeping nearly P2 million in cash.

Escarmosa said he ended up dropping his plan to rob the victim because he came to his senses when he heard Young say, “Why kuya (brother)?” after the stabbing.

He added that he got out of the vehicle and escaped, giving the victim a chance to seek help for his injuries.